Hardenack Otto Conrad Zinck

Hardenack Otto Conrad Zinck , also Harnack Zink (* July 2, 1746 in Husum , † February 15, 1832 in Copenhagen ) was a German chamber musician, composer, music educator and writer.

Live and act

Hardenack Otto Conrad Zinck was a son of the musician Hinrich Bernhard Zink and his first wife Margaretha Krüger. He had two brothers and three sisters, including the composer Bendix Friedrich Zinck .

Zinck received lessons in singing, violin, flute and piano from his father. He attended the Latin school in Husum and then completed his assistantship as a town musician. In 1768 he moved to Hamburg. There he learned from Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach , sang under his direction as an oratorio singer and made music as a flute virtuoso and pianist.

On September 27, 1774, Zinck married the singer Susanne Elisabeth Pontét from Berlin in Hamburg (* July 2, 1745, † April 19, 1832 in Copenhagen ). They had two daughters and four sons, including Johann Wilhelm Ludwig (1776-1851), who was singing master, and Johann Georg Christoph (1788-1828), who was an opera singer.

Together with his wife, Zinck gave subscription concerts and singing lessons in Hamburg in 1774/76. On December 17, 1777, he became the first flutist and chamber musician to join the Mecklenburg-Schwerin court orchestra in Ludwigslust , where his brother was already active. His wife got a job there in 1779 and became known as a very good court singer.

In December 1782 the Zinck couple went on a concert tour to Hamburg, in August 1786 they performed in Copenhagen. From this, on August 25, 1787, Zinck was offered to work there as the first accompanist and singing master of the royal band. From the end of the same year until 1811 he worked there with his wife. From 1789 to 1801 he worked as an organist at the Copenhagen Church of the Redeemer . Here he published a chorale book for the Evangelisk-kristelige Salmebog , an enlightened hymn book whose introduction in Denmark could not be enforced in the end, and founded several choirs. Johann Abraham Peter Schulz recommended him to the Blaagaard teacher’s seminar, where Zinck gave music lessons from 1791. In 1809 he was appointed professor. He retired June 23, 1821.

meaning

Zinck's importance in Denmark and Schleswig-Holstein was in the field of music education. He took up considerations of his role model Johann Abraham Peter Schulz and dealt with texts such as the system of moral religion by Karl Friedrich Bahrdt , On the Spirit of Music by Christian Friedrich Michaelis , the criticism of aesthetic judgment by Immanuel Kant and the general history of music by Johann Nikolaus Forkel and took up influences from the Enlightenment.

Zinck saw the music education of the population as his goal and also subordinated his career as an artist. In 1798 he founded the "Musikudøvende Selskab" and the "Selskabelige Syngeøvelser", the following year the "Syngeinstitut for Kjøbenhavns Ungdom". These were forerunners of institutions that practice open singing today. He promoted his cause with several publications, but wrote awkwardly, unclearly and poorly structured, which significantly diminished its impact. In the course of time he switched to the Danish language. Despite the poor lyrics, he was able to achieve success in music education.

Zinck was also considered an important north German composer. In a foreword to six piano sonatas, he wrote that he preferred the piano because it enabled him to express himself in a sensitive and lyrical way, even though he was actually mainly a flute player. As he himself said, he composed in the footsteps of his role model Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and his attempt to learn about the true way of playing the piano . Among the other models he counted the art of pure movement in music and the theoretical writings of Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg .

literature

• Gerhard Hahne: Zinck, Hardenack Otto Conrad . In: Schleswig-Holstein biographical lexicon . Volume 5. Wachholtz, Neumünster 1979, ISBN 3-529-02645-X , pp. 289-290.

Web links

• Short biography on the Carl Maria von Weber Complete Edition . Digital edition